Statement re Franchises for Northern and Greater A

FirstGroup Plc: Rail franchises for Northern and Greater Anglia        

FirstGroup Plc notes the announcement by the Strategic Rail Authority of those
companies which have pre-qualified to tender for the Northern and Greater
Anglia franchises.

Whilst FirstGroup is pleased to have pre-qualified for the Northern franchise,
it is extremely surprised and disappointed not to have been included with the
pre-qualifiers for Greater Anglia.

FirstGroup is the incumbent franchise holder at First Great Eastern, which
forms part of the proposed Greater Anglia franchise, and has an outstanding
record of operational performance and safety. It has also pre-qualified on all
other franchises for which it has tendered, including Scotrail announced
recently and, significantly, for the same Greater Anglia Franchise in May 2002.

Based on that strong record, we believe that the opportunities for integration
of rail and bus operations through FirstGroup's existing East Anglian bus
network, combined with its strong management team and the overall financial
strength and credibility of the Company would make it an extremely strong
contender for the franchise.

FirstGroup is urgently seeking a meeting with the Strategic Rail Authority to
persuade them to reverse their decision, failing which it will consider all
remedies available to it.

Enquiries

Michael Mitchell: 0207 291 0504